The aged Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, meets Joachim by the Golden Gate at Jerusalem. Engraving by H. Wierix.

Anne and Joachim are described in the apocryphal Protevangelium of James and the 'Golden Legend' anthology of the middle ages. After anxiously praying separately for an end to their barrenness, they are both visited by an angel who announces that Mary will be born miraculously to them in old age. Their embrace at the Golden Gate is representative of the conception